How Can You Be Helped by This Inspirational Story?

Little did I know when I began work on a project many weeks ago that it would lead to an inspirational story.   And as the project is coming very close to completion, I have been noticing how focused I am.

I have also noticed signs from nature.

How much attention do you pay to what is going on in nature?

Have you ever noticed the trees waving to you?

What insights does nature hold for you?

Now that I have learned the value of nature awareness, I am more grateful for the gifts nature gives us. And I pay close attention to nature. When I say that, I don’t mean listening to or watching the weather news unless I know very bad weather looms nearby. And even then, I don’t pay that much attention to it. When Hurricane Ike boldly whirled through our area last year, I slept through it.

One night a couple of weeks ago after heavy rain, as Brian walked by the atrium in our house he noticed something sparkling on the atrium ground. He summoned me to have a look.

What we saw was a sparkling, glittery irregular spiral line. Brian noticed a snail without a shell by the sparkly trail, and it was then we knew that the sparkling trail was left by a snail, a gift to us. The gift remained for several days, until a heavy rain washed it away.

Years ago I never thought I would enjoy seeing a snail in our atrium. After all, there were a lot of snails in there back then, eating our wandering jew plants while destroying their lovely leaves. We did our best to get rid of those pesky destructive snails, and finally we no longer saw snails or the shells that protected them.

I’m not sure when we began to see snails without shells inside our house near the atrium door.

Maybe it began a year ago, but it has occurred quite a few times since. It was a mystery to us how they got inside and why we never saw their shells…

Whenever they appeared, it was always at night and after a rain. One night I discovered how they got in, as I watched a snail entering through a very small space at the bottom corner of the atrium door. Still, it is amazing how we never find snail shells in the atrium any more and how beautiful and healthy our wandering  jew plants in the atrium look.

How do you think those snails survive?

Where are their shells?

We have become quite accustomed to seeing snails without shells in our house by the atrium at night after rain. Usually there are anywhere from 3 to 7 snails. It always seems to be an odd number of snails.

Sometimes one or two of them slithers out a foot or so on the wood floor of the hall. But usually they stay very close to the atrium. We let them hang out there while we sleep. When we arise the next morning, all snails are gone.

So now let’s get back to the sparkly gift left by the snails. The next morning after we discovered our gift from the snails, I said to Brian, ”The snails left us a gift as their way of saying good bye.”

As I had learned when I researched online for the meaning of snails showing up, snails signify slow, steady progress. And that’s just the way it has been for us while learning how to build a business using the Internet.

When we received the gift of the snails, the project I have been working on with Brian was nearing the finishing stretch.

The next morning while on our walk in the park, we saw a rabbit. We took the sighting of the rabbit as a sign of progress in leaps and bounds. Ah, yes, I thought. The snails said goodbye because now we will progress rapidly! Good sign! Yes!

Things were going quite well, and I expected to finish our project very soon. But it didn’t happen. Challenges kept popping up, and one by one we overcame them. We are very persistent.

Do you persist when challenges get in your way?

What happens if you don’t persist? Think about that.

And if you do persist, you could be creating an inspirational story without even realizing it at the time.

Bees Mean Good Luck

When was the last time you saw a bee?

On Sunday I saw a bee visiting the small dark purple flowers in front of our house. Later I saw a bee nosediving into the white blooms of ginger plants on the side of the house.  To me, bees mean good luck, so I was very happy to see them.

As you probably know, bees are becoming tragically scarce, so we rarely see them.

Yesterday Brian mentioned that he had not seen a bee in our swimming pool in a long time.  So, this morning he found a bee in the pool and rescued it, just like he has done so many times before. Perhaps you read my story about Brian saving the bees.

Brian spent quite a while with the bee and then set it on a patio chair in the sun so its wings could thoroughly dry. Not so long after that, the bee died. But he was being nurtured by Brian shortly before his death. It was his time to pass on.

Walking Upside Down

In the past couple of days I’ve had other visitors of nature in and near my office… a blue jay, love doves and sparrows. The love doves always remind me of love and peace.

Since the weather was so delightfully cool, I had my office door open, and a wasp flew into my office. It landed on the closet door in front of me and climbed upward to the ceiling. While on the ceiling, the wasp wandered about for a long time.

As I watched this wasp walking upside down, I wondered how insects do that. When I have had a wet bee that Brian saved from our pool walking on my fingers and hand, I was thinking the same thing. I could feel the light touch of the bee’s feet, but they did not dig into my skin as the bee was walking upside down on my hand.

How do they walk upside down?

Have you ever been curious about that?

Finally the wasp flew back outside, only to turn around and fly back in. This time he landed on the side of my computer screen! From my chair in front of my computer, I watched him climb up the side and across the top till he reached the center. And he walked around there for a while before flying outside again.

I think that wasp wanted to make sure I paid attention to it, don’t you?

Here’s the meaning of wasps I got from Animal Spirit Guides by Stephen D. Farmer, Ph.D.:

“Whatever task is before you, jump in and go for it with enthusiasm and determination.”

That’s just what I’ve been doing with my project.

A couple of nights ago after the rain, guess what we saw?

Eleven snails inside our house and one inside the atrium on the window!

Big ones, little ones and medium size snails! I got Brian to take some pictures of them this time. We never thought to do that before.

Maybe that’s why they returned?

Did they want to be remembered in pictures?

Or was it to show us again that it’s a time of slow, steady progress?

Whatever, we will persist and finish that project very soon. I’m expecting to finish it today.

This morning our special cardinal, Solomon, was singing for us up high in the magnolia tree in our backyard. I think he’s telling us that he’s ready for us to get this project out there to the world.

Oh, by the way, I have a really good story to tell you about Solomon, but I’ll save that for another day.

Even though I have been very frustrated with the challenges of the project Brian and I are working on, I work on it diligently and without noticing time passing by.

Why? Because I have an intention to help poor children and orphans through a charity I want to create. That is my big vision. I want to create more peace, love and happiness in the world. The project I am working on is a small step toward that dream.

What is your intention?

It doesn’t have to be anything at all like mine. It just has to be from your heart. When you are doing what your heart tells you to do, it becomes much easier to overcome obstacles.

You have your own gifts and talents to share. Maybe you haven’t discovered them yet. I didn’t discover mine until just a few years ago. And it was less than a year ago that I received rave reviews from my mentors about my first blog post.

What is it that you are really good at?

Do you know?

What do you love to do?

What would you love to do?

Here’s another meaning of a wasp showing up as written in Animal Spirit Guides which I previously mentioned.

“Lead with your heart. Not your mind.”

Do you have difficulty knowing what your intention is?

There’s an easy way to help you with that – The Intention Attractor. I love that it is so time-efficient. I can listen while doing other things, like writing this story.

And speaking of this story, do you want to know what the project is that Brian and I are working on?

So glad that you do!

Part of it is my new ebook, ‘Inspirational Quotes – Get Uplifted And Inspired With Lessons From Lyrics.’
It’s my gift to you when you subscribe to receive my emails with thought-provoking lessons for you, updates about my songs, and more.

If you already subscribed before you read this, be sure to read the emails I sent you, including a download link to get the ebook.

The other part of the project is the video from which this ebook was created. Brian came up with the idea for the project when I asked his opinion about a collection of my lyrics which I thought would make good inspirational quotes. I wanted him to help me eliminate some of them.

Later that day he surprised me with a slide show he created using all of those lyrics on a serene background of sky and water. He accompanied it with beautiful classical music. From what he’s told me about creating this slide show, it came so easily to him, even though he had never before created one.

The background he used for the slides was the first one he saw when looking for one. And the music is heavenly.

I think he was divinely inspired, don’t you?

The project has taken so long because neither of us has ever before created a YouTube video or an ebook. I studied and learned how to make the ebook available as a download. YouTube is next after I finish this story.

I have learned a lot of computer tech stuff in the process. It’s been challenging and also rewarding. When I finally got the graphic of the ebook cover on the sidebar of my blog, I was so thrilled. It took many changes in the size of the graphic to get it to work.

Many hours went by as I worked on the project, but because I am working to fulfill my intention, time passed in a flash.

Why is it so important to know your intention?

Here’s a big reason that I wrote in my lyrics for ‘You Own The Key’…

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When you are old will you regret
your great desire was never met?
You own the key
to be all you can be.

When will you seek and find
how to unlock the secrets of your mind?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Surely you’ve heard that saying, “There’s no time like the present!”

So give yourself a present.  Download The Intention Attractor and start living your life to the fullest.

Perhaps when you know your intention, you’ll have your own inspirational story to tell.

Till next time…

Wishing you peace, love and happiness,

Joyce Marie
Songwriter and singer
Founder, LessonsFromLyrics.com

P.S. The Intention Attractor not only helps you know your long-term intentions but also what project you should be working on now – the present.

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